On September 6, fifty years ago in 1973, a British journalist left on a motorcycle trip around the world. That journalist was Ted Simon, and not only did his trip set the pattern for further decades of his own adventures, including later motorcycle travels—it also served as the basis for the book Jupiter’s Travels, which inspired countless others to follow in his footsteps.

Jupiter’s Travels was first published in 1979. It detailed Simon’s adventures, from acquiring the bike for his trip (a 500 cc Triumph Tiger) to hitting the road for four years. From 1973, his ride lasted all the way through 1977. He went through 45 countries and covered 78,000 miles. Just like Ewan and Charley’s BMW-borne adventures decades later, Jupiter’s Travels was a best-seller and other moto work followed. This included the books Dreaming of Jupiter (a retracing of his ’70s tire tracks in 2001); Riding High (a telling of tales that didn’t make it to Jupiter’s Travels, and of the post-trip days); Rolling Through the Isles (a moto tour through Great Britain); and Jupiter’s Travels in Camera (a collection of photos from his 1973-1977 trip). The books are all available from Simon’s websitehere, Aerostichalso sells the original, and of courseAmazon does as well, along with most of his other work.

While his later books were well-received, Simon’s first book is a window into a world that is almost unimaginable now. The original Jupiter’s Travels book is still a fascinating window of what it was like to travel when we often didn’t know much about the world outside our country’s borders.

Now, Simon is in his retirement years. He’s justsold his BMW motorcycle(the Triumph Tiger was retired long ago). And to commemorate the significant anniversary of his first book that inspired so many (Simon and Lisa Thomas, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, and so many ADVrider inmates—see threadshere,here), some riders are getting together to celebrate the day. Of course the meet-ups are sporadically scattered around the world, but you can see a listhere, and it’s surprising how many there are. If you get to one of these events, let us know, or maybe send a photo in to the POTW column?